An NFL Player’s Online Harvey Fundraiser Is Going Viral, And the Celebrities Are Helping

Yesss put down your DraftKings app, Jezebel readers (jk, jk).
NFL player J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans started an online
fundraiser last Sunday for Hurricane Harvey victims with a
modest $200,000 goal and has now reached $17.5
million [UPDATE15 minutes later: $17.8
million]. To put that number in perspective, an NFL team could
buy J.J. Watt for that kind of money. That means nothing to me,
so to put it another way, that sum could almost get you Kim
Kardashian and Kanye West’s estate. The fundraiser lists $1 million
from Ellen Degeneres (with Walmart), $1 million from the
Tennessee Titans, and $200,000 from Drake.

Jamie Foxx is planning to hold a telethon on September 12th,
and Kevin Hart has made an online fundraiser which has
so far raised over $1 million.

Other vast sums reportedly donated by celebrities include, but
are not limited to: $1 million from Leonardo DiCaprio; $1
million from Tyler Perry; $500,000 from Miley; $500,000 from
the Kardashians; $1 million from Sandra Bullock; and an
unspecified “sizable donation” to the Houston food bank from
Taylor Swift.

Barack Obama recommended donating to the
Red Cross on Twitter. A friendly reminder that ProPublicainvestigated the Red Cross
in 2015 and found that of half a million dollars raised for
Haiti, the organization only built six homes. ProPublica then
recommended donating to local organizations with direct ties to
their communities. Here’s our guide.

For those prepared to take on the heavy burden of being Taylor
Swift’s BFF, prepare for your wedding to sound like this:
“BOOOO NOOOO TAYLORRR NOOOO.” Yesterday Taylor Swift served as
a bridesmaid to her lifelong BFF Abigail Anderson, and TMZcamped out outside to get
video of fans yelling at her as guards hid her exit.

Melania Trump wore insensitively expensive clothes to Houston
twice this week with a $1590 khaki jacket dress and $500 Manolo
heels, which is coincidentally also how the President spells
“heals.” For her that’s actually quite restrained.

After a Vanity Fair piece caused uproar over
Angelina Jolie’s cruel audition test–offering orphans and
impoverished children money and then snatching it away–the
Telluride Film Festival gave her a standing ovation for the
film First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia
Remembers. It debuts on Netflix on September 15th.
[E! Online]

Madonna announces that she’s
releasing a film and new music, and the internet is calling
her an old hag. You’re fugly, internet. [Inquisitr]

Watch out, Burning Man, because Paris Hilton is coming for
you with goggles on. [Instagram]